What does COVID-19 stand for? Coronavirus is only part of the answer.

These two medical terms have dropped into our daily lexicon as suddenly and forcefully as a meteor, yet we probably still understand less about the former than we do of those fireballs from space.

One thing about those names that seems certain, however, is that we laypersons out there (or stuck inside) have begun to identify coronavirus and COVID-19 as identical entities, as dreaded new synonyms.

New being the operable word here as it relates to COVID-19, but not so for coronavirus, which has resided within the vernacular of epidemiologists for more than 50 years.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “There are many types of human coronaviruses, including some that commonly cause mild upper-respiratory tract illnesses,” such as the common cold or flu. There also are the far more serious coronaviruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

Some of those coronaviruses have been identified only fairly recently, but the first one can be traced back to about 1968 when virologists first named a bronchitis virus in chickens that had been passed along to humans (this new strain was reportedly passed from fish to human). It was named coronavirus because of how the red bloom of the virus particles on living cells resembled a solar corona.

Again, according to the CDC, the World Health Organization announced COVID-19 as "an official name for the disease that is causing the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, first identified in Wuhan China. In COVID-19, ‘CO’ stands for ‘corona,’ ‘VI’ for ‘virus,’ and ‘D’ for disease. Formerly, this disease was referred to as “2019 novel coronavirus” or “2019-nCoV.”

How do we make the subtle separation of coronavirus and COVID-19 now that the terms have been simultaneously pounded into our psyche? Perhaps think of it along these terms: “Curveball” does not describe the techniques of pitching, though is certainly a useful aspect. “Ibuprofen” can relieve a headache, but it hardly explains the pharmaceutical industry.

COVID-19 is most definitely a coronavirus, but you could be feeling lousy from a coronavirus right now and yet not be afflicted with COVID-19.